Network device, control device and methods therein

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method in a network device. The method includes: determining a node delay associated with the network device and/or a link delay associated with a link between the network device and a neighboring network device; and transmitting to the neighboring network device a Link Layer Discovery Protocol Data Unit, LLDPDU, containing the node delay and/or the link delay.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method in a network device, comprising:
 receiving, from a control device, a packet to be forwarded to a neighboring network device, the packet having an embedded Link Layer Discovery Protocol Data Unit, LLDPDU; 
 determining a node delay associated with the network device and a link delay associated with a link between the network device and the neighboring network device, wherein the network device and the neighboring network device are on an Ethernet based network; 
 adding the node delay and the link delay to the embedded LLDPDU to form the LLDPDU; and 
 transmitting, to the neighboring network device, the LLDPDU containing the node delay and the link delay, an identifier of the network device, and a port associated with the node delay and the link delay. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining includes determining the link delay associated with the link between the network device and the neighboring network device and said determining the link delay comprises measuring the link delay as a unidirectional delay from the network device to the neighboring network device, a unidirectional delay from the neighboring network device to the network device, or a bidirectional delay between the network device and the neighboring network device. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the link delay is measured using Precision Time Protocol, PTP. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the LLDPDU comprises a first Type-Length-Value, TLV, indicating the node delay and a second TLV indicating the link delay. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , wherein:
 the first TLV comprises a type or subtype field indicating that the first TLV is for node delay advertisement and a value field indicating a numerical value of the node delay; and 
 the second TLV comprises a type or subtype field indicating that the second TLV is for link delay advertisement and a value field indicating a numerical value of the link delay. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein each of the first TLV and the second TLV further comprises a unit field indicating a time unit of the numerical value in its value field. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the network device and the neighboring network device operate based on Ethernet. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing the node delay and the link delay in a Link Layer Discovery Protocol, LLDP, database at the network device; and 
 transmitting information on the node delay and the link delay to the control device. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 receiving, from another neighboring network device, another LLDPDU containing another node delay associated with the other neighboring network device and another link delay associated with a link between the network device and the other neighboring network device; 
 storing the other node delay and the other link delay in the LLDP database; and 
 transmitting information on the other node delay and the other link delay to the control device. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the control device hosts a Network Management System, NMS, and the information on the node delay and the link delay and the information on the other node delay and the other link delay are transmitted to the control device in response to a query based on Simple Network Management Protocol, SNMP, or NETwork CONFiguration, NETCONF. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the control device hosts a Software-Defined Networking, SDN, controller.